Games These Days
by Master Pencil
Summary: Cranky Kong disliked where gaming was headed when Donkey Kong Country came out, imagine what he feels today.


**Games These Days**

**By Master Pencil**

It was a dreary day on Donkey Kong Island. Old rocks were swept into the sea and aged plants wilted. Seedlings were sprouting and baby neckys were hatching in the treetops. The sun was rising on a new morning. Its rays stretched out and touched the cabin of Cranky Kong with welcoming light. However, the cabin stood at its one spot with blandness, never shining bright at this new day.

The old ape who lived in this tired household for most of his life sat on his old rocking chair. Creaking along at a slow, timely pace, the chair felt hard today. Moving back and forth over so long a period felt too normal on a morning like this. Judging from the freshness in the tropical air and the serenity of the jungle, sitting like a statue would be sad. Cranky sighed and stood up, cracking a joint here and there. Part of him felt like it was left behind at the bedroom.

"There's just something not right today," he grumbled to himself, his tongue feeling dry.

His tired senses begged to be rested on the front porch, but Cranky left the place behind and strolled into the jungle. Now Cranky did know that the island was abuzz with news over the bright future of gaming. His thumb twitched over the memory of playing the arcade, but drew back in fear over the thought of today's modern games. Why, Donkey Kong was playing a Wii right behind his back, the whippersnapper.

"Games these days!" he snapped. "I had no such thing as motion controls! We did that for the TV!"

He shook his head and kicked at a gnarled old stick lying near his tired feet. It rolled down into a small, steady stream, becoming wet with refreshing water and not stiff anymore. He remembered when Diddy Kong persuaded him to play a DS.

"Nah!" he replied. "My eyes hurt enough looking at a TV screen with those regular new games!"

Donkey Kong's tree house was appearing soon enough. It had sunshine coming down on it to make it look extra good. There was a light shining from within the tree house. That had Cranky's attention, but it was slowly dropped when he thought it might have been one of those new games again.

"Here I go," he mumbled.

Even the steps up felt heavy. Donkey Kong didn't even know he was coming until he got on the top step. Some bananas made him feel charged for the day, so when he saw Cranky he thought the old ape was downtrodden. He felt it wasn't right that Cranky had to be that way on such a good day.

"Whoa Cranky, you look really tired," he said.

"I know there's something in this air that I don't like!" retorted Cranky. "It has this new stench!"

"I don't smell anything," mumbled Donkey Kong.

Cranky scoffed and went to look for this inner light that was annoying him earlier. It turned out to be just a TV screen showing a Wii Diddy was playing.

"And I thought Donkey Kong Country was bad," grumbled Cranky.

"Huh, is that you Cranky?" asked Diddy.

"Yep it's me, and let me tell you something!" he replied. "Back in my day, we had none of this online nonsense, much less internet! Oh no, back then we only had local multiplayer at the local arcade! What are you doing anyway?"

"Just going through channels," said Diddy.

"TV?" asked Cranky.

"Nope, Wii channels," he replied.

What rubbish is all this? Is simply playing games not enough? Cranky wanted to go over to that little white box and knock it over.

"Cheer up Cranky!" said Diddy. "You can just use the VC!"

"VC?" asked Cranky.

"Yeah, it's where you play old games on the Wii!" he said. "You know, old games you love."

"You mean they ruined my games now?" said Cranky, becoming even grumpier.

A green parrot flew past the window and came inside from the door. Squawks was almost bursting with joy.

"Good news, good news!" he cried.

"What good news?" asked Diddy.

"New game announced!" he said.

"Oh great," mumbled Cranky. "Is it one of those stupid RPGs or shooters? I might as well knock myself with a cane!"

Squawks was carrying a picture in his talons, and it had a logo on it. Diddy saw it and jumped in the air with joy. When Cranky saw it, his jaw went open.

"Donkey Kong Country Returns?" he said.

"Affirmative, we are back in business everyone!" called Squawks.

"No!" yelled Cranky. "I'm over!"

He stormed out of the tree house, clambered down the ladder, and went back to his old house. There he retreated to the safety of his rocking chair and fell into bitterness.

"I just hope they don't stick me on here again!" he said. "Games these days, now they're even worse!"


End file.
